𝐔𝐧𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐌𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐝𝐲
-𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝟑-

Stevie stood out back with a cigarette balanced between her lips. She waited till the band got everything out the van before following them inside. She attempted to walk in with Eddie but Camila had beaten her to it.

"Far out!" The dark haired girl exclaimed. Stevie took a long drag of her cigarette and looked away. "Can you believe this?" Camila asked with excitement, detaching herself from Eddie's arm and wrapping her arms around Billy.

The venue was of decent size. The Winters were already up practicing and Stevie's eyes automatically went to the girl who was playing the piano and singing backup. She was gorgeous and had gotten Graham's attention.

"Keep dreaming, Peaches." Warren teased. Stevie looped her arm around Graham's and leaned her head on his shoulder, "you like her?" She asked quietly.

Graham just stared at the stage with wide eyes. "She's— she's great." He stuttered.

He wasn't wrong. The girl was absolutely breathtaking.

Finally, they walked around to backstage where The Winters were coming down the stairs. "Hey, you guys were rocking up there." Warren said in passing.

"Sounded good," Eddie agreed.

"Well done," Stevie said, trying not to drop the guitar as she walked behind the two boys. "Hurry up!" She said quickly, frustrated at their slow pace.
"I'm going, I'm going!" Warren assured her.

"I'm not kidding, Warren— i'll smash this guitar over your head!" She threatened, pushing past Eddie once he got to the top.

"Love you too, Vie." Warren grinned at her.

She just rolled her eyes and continued to the stage.

The band quickly got to setting up on the stage just as people began getting seated at reserved tables, some also just standing.

"Stevie," Billy grabbed her attention. She looked up at him whilst she was kneeling to fix her mic stand. "Yeah?"

"We're singing this together today." He told her. She stood straight and adjusting the actual microphone. "We are?" She asked. Billy nodded. "No joining on the end of the lyrics or anything like that. We're singing together."

Stevie didn't argue. She was grateful for his choice as it gave her more freedom on stage. She was just confused.

✯✯✯

𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰𝐞𝐫: Why did it have you so confused?

𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞: Because it was the Billy show. Nobody cared about the rest of us.

✯✯✯

"Have love! Pretty baby, will travel!" Billy and Stevie sang in unison. Her eyes remained closed as she concentrate on staying in sync with him. They sounded great together. Truly amazing.

✯✯✯

𝐑𝐨𝐝 𝐑𝐞𝐲𝐞𝐬 (𝐭𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐫): Put Mick Jagger in a lineup and a person who's never heard of the rolling stones can still point to Jagger and say 'that one. He's the rock star.' Billy Dunne had that in spades.

✯✯✯

"Show us your tits!" A voice called out from the crowd as Stevie and Billy's voices died out. Her eyes shot open and she frowned, squinting from the light in attempts to see who had shouted it.

"Excuse me?" Stevie spoke into the microphone with frustration.

"Yeah go on!" Another shouted. Stevie looked at the boys with a face of embarrassment and Eddie stormed forward, about to walk down the side steps but was pulled back by Graham, afraid his bandmate was going to say something stupid that would create a bad name for them.

"Leave it." He whispered.

Stevie uncomfortably walked away from the stage, not caring to look at anybody as she did so. That had never happened before. She felt humiliated. There were a fair few people in that room. And there was no doubt they all heard it.

Billy looked around and followed after the girl. "Stevie, you alright?" He asked once they got outside.

"I'm fine." She huffed, searching in her pockets for a cigarette pack. But she couldn't find out. "You got any spare cigs?" She asked. Billy gave her one and then lit it for her. "You shouldn't be smoking these."

"You do." She shrugged.

"I'm an adult."

"Graham does. All the boys do. They're only a year older than me." She said. Billy was only bothered by her use of cigarettes because he'd noticed how she'd began smoking a lot more than usual.

"That shit happens all the time, alright?" He moved on, addressing what had happened on stage.

"That doesn't make it okay." Stevie said.

"I know — I know. Just don't let it get to you, Stevie." He said, trying to touch her shoulder but she just shrugged his hand away. He pursed his lips into a straight line and stepped back. He'd noticed her lack of attention in rehearsals the past few days but didn't mention it.

After that, Stevie joined both Billy and Graham to talk to Rod Reyes out by the side door.

"Obviously you gotta write your own material." Rod told them. Stevie hadn't been listening to the first half of the conversation. She found Rod Reyes to be a boring man.

"Well, I-I mean I do it's just most of it's not good enough yet." Billy explained.

"What you writing about?"

Stevie was sat beside Graham. She held onto his arm like she had done earlier that night and leaned against him, closing her eyes for a brief moment.

"I have this one song called 'Nevermore' about the Catonsville Nine.."

"No— oh! Are you Bob Dylan?" Rod asked with a fed up face. "Are you Buffy Saint Marie? Enough with the political shit. It's a new decade! Nobody needs reminding that the world is a mess. People want to feel good again, they want to feel hope."

He paused. "You can write a love song can't you?" He suggested.

Rod looked over to Graham. "You need to cool it with the solos, brother. Nobody cares about your technical guitar skills. They want to sing! They want to dance!" he said, using his hands as he spoke.

✯✯✯

𝐊𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐧 𝐒𝐢𝐫𝐤𝐨 (keyboard): Rod told me to wear low-cut shirts, (frowning) I told Rod to eat shit and that was that.

𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞: He was a man of opinions for sure.

✯✯✯

"And you," he finally moved onto Stevie, catching her by surprise, "I wanna hear more of you." He admitted. Billy was slightly surprised. "You were brilliant out there."

"Thank you?" Stevie questioned.

"The last thing i'll say and this is key.. you need to get the fuck out of Pittsburgh. You want to be signed to a label? You wanna work with Jimmy Miller, Tom Dowd, Teddy Price—"

"You know Teddy Price?" Billy cut him off.

"Yeah man, I know everybody and they're all in LA now. Not London, not New York.. California my friend. That is the place you gotta be."

Billy gathered up the rest of the band after finishing up with Rod and explained to them what he had proposed.

"I'm in." Eddie said with a grin. "Yeah me too." Graham agreed. "Guess I better gas up the van." Warren chimed in with a cheesy smile. "You think she's gonna make it?" He joked around with Billy.

Stevie stood quietly in thought.

"What about you, Vie?" Graham spoke up.

"Yeah," She said without looking at them.

"What're you guys talking about?" Camila appeared with the same cheery tone in her voice as always. The boys went quiet and her smile slowly faded at the lack of explanation.

✯✯✯

𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰𝐞𝐫: Were you not sure about going with them?

𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞: To California? (taking a breath) all I could think about was my mom, you know? If I left, she'd have no one. I wasn't sure if I was prepared to leave her. I mean — I wasn't even eighteen yet.

✯✯✯

The ride back in the van was lovely. The boys were still running off the adrenaline from the show but Stevie wasn't. She was tired and couldn't wait to get home which wasn't like her at all.

"Here you are, Vie." Warren called out from the front of the van.

She blinked harshly and nodded. "Thank you," she said, opening the door and getting out. The boys watched her walk up to the house and just as they were about to drive off, Graham stopped them.

"Hold on." He said, getting out and catching Stevie before she could enter the house. "Stevie— Stevie wait." He grabbed her arm.

She spun around to meet his eyes and waited for him to speak.

"Are you gonna come?" He asked. She looked away for a moment and shrugged. "I don't know, Graham." She admitted, rubbing her forehead. "I mean, my mom's still here and she'll have no one— she needs my help."

"What do you mean? Where's your dad?"

Her breath hitched. "He erm.." She looked away again, "he left us, Graham. Almost a week ago." She explained. Graham's expression softened. "Fuck," he whispered. "I'm sorry, Vie. I didn't know."

"That's alright, Graham. It's not your fault."

"I understand if you don't come but please think about it, Vie. I don't think we can do it without you, y'know?" He said, a gentle hand on her arm.

"I get it." She said, quickly giving him a hug before slipping inside the house.

"What was that about?" Billy asked as his brother got back into the van. "I'm not sure she's coming to California with us." He told them.

Eddie snapped his head toward Graham. "She's not?"

"Her dad left. Did you know about that?" He asked, mainly talking to Billy. Eddie realised she hadn't told the rest of the boys. She'd only told him.

Billy shook his head. "That explains her recent behaviour then." He said.

Stevie walked up the stairs and saw the light from her mother's bedroom through the door. Knocking lightly, she entered and greeted the older woman with a slight smile.

Her mother was in bed, a book in hand.

Stevie dug into her pocket and pulled out a twenty dollar bill, placing it on the bedside table. "I know it ain't much but it's something." She shrugged.

Her mother smiled pitifully. "I don't want you to worry, my girl."

"I know." Stevie nodded. "I'll probably have another ten bucks or something in my room but I can't promise anything."
Stevie said quickly.

"What's on your mind?" Her mother interrupted. Stevie said nothing. "I'm your mother, Stevie. I sometimes think I know you more than you know yourself."

Stevie ran a hand through her blonde hair which was now slightly knotty. "They want me to go to California with them, mom. The band. We've been offered a bigger deal. They leave tomorrow morning."

Her mother tilted her head to the side.

"And I think it's best if I tell them i'm gonna stay here. I'll get a job and help you—"

"Go." She said. "Go with them, Stevie. Don't give up on this just for me. Music has been your dream since you were a little girl. Don't waste an opportunity that's being handed to you this easily because I can assure you it'll never happen again."

✯✯✯

𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞: And that's what convinced me to change my mind. My mom wasn't completely alone.. she had her sister who lived a thirty minute drive away. But I still felt guilty about it all. Who wouldn't?

✯✯✯

Stevie grabbed her bag and gripped it in her hand, her leather jacket in the other. After saying goodbye to her mother, she stepped out into the rain and held the jacket above her head in hopes to keep her hair dry.

It was pouring down with rain.

"Hope you have room for me," she said, approaching the van. Eddie was the one stood outside the door after helping Camila inside the vehicle. And to be honest, he was completely surprised that she showed up.

He smirked and shook his head. "Get in," he laughed, moving out of her way.

"You're here?" Graham asked with a smile on his lips. "I'm here." She let out a breath, fixing her hair and sitting in the corner like she usually did.

Camila handed her a blanket which she took gratefully. "Thank you,"

"I didn't think you'd come." Eddie said once getting in. He took a seat beside her and moved his hair out of his face. "Well. My mom told me to go for it. So I did." She said.

Eddie nodded along. "You made the right decision. It wouldn't be the same without you."

The drive ahead was going to be long. The thought of it made Stevie want to groan loudly. And in fact, she did groan loudly. Eddie glanced at her and watched as she threw her head back in boredom. They'd only been on the road for ten minutes.

"That keyboardist really added something to the mix didn't she?." Graham spoke up. "Who, Karen?" Camila asked: "Yeah. Yeah Karen." He hummed.

Camila looked to him. "Yeah she did."

Stevie readjusted herself, laying her head in Eddie's lap and looking up at the roof of the van. "You alright?" He asked. She hummed and looked up at him.

"Smile!" Camila said, pointing the camera toward them. Stevie moved her head to the side and waved her hand at the camera, blowing a kiss to it like she usually did.

Eddie laughed and put his middle finger up. Stevie gasped and grabbed his hand, forcing it down. He shook his head laughing and let his arm rest around her front whilst she stayed laying on him.

The ride wasn't that bad, Stevie quite enjoyed it actually. She had been humming songs the whole time, Eddie tapping along to the beat as she did so.

It was no longer light outside once they arrived in California. Stevie finally sat upright and peered out the window at the busy clubs and bars they passed.

"It's amazing," she said to herself, watching the people they drove past.

"Welcome to California everybody." Warren shouted from the front seat.

✯✯✯

𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰𝐞𝐫: Did you regret going to California?

𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞: (shaking head) I think it was one of the best decisions i've ever made.

©-shelbysecret-

a/n: my apologies if i get the timeline slightly wrong. also i've realised that the ages of Stevie might be confusing. At this point I believe Eddie is 17/18ish which would make Stevie 17.
Leave any opinions here:

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